Published: January 22, 2026
"Felix, step onto the mana-formed foothold ahead."
After activating the reflective barrier parallel to the ground, I called out to Felix running alongside me.
He responded with, "Understood." Together, we stepped onto the reflective barrier and leapt into the air.
Upon reaching the highest point, I used gravity manipulation to change the direction of gravity acting on us.
By doing so, we moved horizontally toward Rugau, as if falling parallel to the ground.
"Aren't you going to use space leap like before?"
As we fell toward Rugau, Felix asked from beside me.
"I don't have the stamina left for a long-distance teleport like that. Besides, using space leap without knowing the situation at the destination is too risky. Falling like this will get us there just as quickly, so we'll proceed this way this time."
"...Got it."
Continuing to fall horizontally through the air, the outer walls of Rugau soon came into view.
In front of the walls, attack magic flew in all directions, with smoke rising here and there.
It was truly a battlefield.
Getting closer revealed more details.
Stopping gravity manipulation, I stood on the mana foothold above the battlefield, out of reach from attack magic, to observe.
The Reglyph Territory forces held the advantage in the battle.
The Empire side supposedly had only a few soldiers present, so Reglyph Territory should have won long ago.
Yet, the fighting still continued.
The reason the balance was closer than expected was Volk Heier’s supernatural ability—he was the defender of the Great Western Labyrinth conquest party.
His supernatural ability was soil manipulation.
Several soil golems of various sizes appeared on the battlefield, forcing the Reglyph Territory army to contend with them.
"Is the battle going as we predicted? Felix, are we sticking to the plan we discussed earlier?"
"No problem. It's true I lost to you."
"Understood. Then I'll make contact with the Empire soldier wielding the greatsword as planned. I'll leave persuading the golem’s caster to you. We can't afford any more casualties."
"Got it."
Felix ended our conversation and descended straight into the densely wooded area nearby.
He was likely heading to where Volk Heier was.
I turned my gaze back to the battlefield.
(Now, where are the silver rabbits of the night sky members...?)
Searching for my comrades, I spotted Lucre first.
She was at the rear, protected by a magical barrier device.
There, she was using healing magic to treat the wounded brought in.
Moreover, every time the Empire launched attack magic, she intercepted just enough and used flash to alert the Reglyph Territory army of the caster’s location.
Lucre’s latter role was something she often did during first squad’s dungeon explorations.
When attacked by magic from demonic beasts, she immediately used mana tracking to locate the beast.
Then she would inform the others, who would strike with magic from Ms. Selma or Ms. Rain — a standard tactic for the first squad.
The Empire mages were skilled, but as individuals, their strategy was to remain hidden and cast attacks stealthily.
But against Lucre, every time they cast, their location was tracked, drawing concentrated fire from the Reglyph Territory’s magical weapons.
So they had no choice but to focus on evasion.
One key reason the Reglyph Territory held the advantage was undoubtedly Lucre’s presence.
She was a reliable ally in the dungeon exploration, but I believed her abilities were even more effective on the battlefield.
She was definitely someone I never wanted as an enemy in war.
Next, I found five members of the second squad battling the largest golem on the battlefield — a towering four meters tall.
They had cleared up to the eighty-third layer of the Great Southern Labyrinth and were among the top-ranked parties of the silver rabbits of the night sky.
If the golem moved like a demonic beast, they would rarely be at a disadvantage.
Just as expected, they easily repelled it through coordinated teamwork.
However, the golem had the troublesome trait of quickly restoring itself after being destroyed and resuming its rampage.